Why On-Again, Off-Again Relationships Never Work

On-again,off-again relationships are usually doomed to failure. You hear the hopeful — and rare — tales of people being on in their young, college years, off for most of their twenties, finding each other again in their early thirties, going back off and reconnecting later in life thinking all hope is not lost. That a relationship like that can actually work because those two individuals are completely different people each time they meet. They’ve likely learned from their experiences, worked on themselves, and approach relationships from completely different perspectives. But people who carry on on-again, off-again relationships with very little off time (half a year, at best) almost never work out in the end. Because that “off” period was fake—no real growth can happen in a few months. Old issues don’t go anywhere just because you casually dated someone else for a minute. And beyond that, there are a host of other reasons why on-again, off-again relationships never work. Like these.